By Lady Tempest

(Teaser):

Sasha sat at the window, the gentle breeze rustling his white-gold hair and the delicate blue curtains the only sound in the luxurious room. Staring out to the shining sea in the distance, he sighed. Tiny ships flitted about the harbor, almost too small to see, and none spectacular enough to be carrying his father. Any day now King Shion would arrive. And although he had been anxious to see his father, to let him know he was safe, to let him know he was finally happy, he also feared it.

The king would not be pleased that Sasha had found his happiness with a hated enemy. Shion obviously hated Prince Issai, now his lover, and hated Issai’s people as well. Only his own capture had brought his father back to the bargaining table. Plus, he was in no proper condition to meet him. His father would be shamed, and in front of his enemies only would make it worse.

All Sasha’s Enkaian clothes had been left at the ‘Palace’, including his precious masked helm. His hair had faded completely from the proper jet black of the crown prince to his natural white blond. Nothing could be hidden as was appropriate for him. All could see that King Shion’s son was a freak, a shame kept as cloaked as possible in his own kingdom. Thankfully only a few of his own people would see him as he was. But the humiliation of Shion’s enemies knowing the king’s and heir’s dirty secret could not be ignored.

Issai made it so easy to forget that shame, with his soft voice and sweet kisses. Sasha’s pale lips smoothed into a bittersweet smile. He would never understand why anyone, no less anyone as beautiful and intelligent as his dark Midori prince, would debase themselves to be his friend, his lover, to touch him, to ... care.

Behind him the door clicked shut. Soft footfalls, sensed more than heard, approached him. An echoed thud, then warm arms wrapped around his shoulders, and warm breath brushed across his bare neck, sending a shiver through his skin.

“I do hope you aren’t brooding again, my sweet angel,” the light, almost melodic voice said. “Though I suppose I would just have to find something to cheer you up.” Lips tenderly caressed the back of his neck.

“I was just thinking.”

“Thinking? So you are brooding,” Issai teased with a somber undertone and a gentle nip on Sasha’s shoulder.

“I was just thinking about my father.”

“Oh.”

Sasha turned slightly in Issai’s arms to gaze into his prince’s mist-green eyes. He forced a smile.

(end teaser)

(tbc)